Fiber artist Mary Giles says that when she started working with choice materials to create earth-inspired sculptures, she “just couldn’t help herself.” One of her earliest memories of encouragement from her parents was when her dad gave her porcupine quills to use for an art project—one that later turned into one of her first museum pieces.
Since then, her work has been featured in museums and exhibits around the United States and internationally, including the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, the Barbican Centre in London and the International Triennial of Tapestry in Lodz, Poland.
Her infatuation with fiber work didn’t fully begin until after graduating from the art education program at Minnesota State University-Mankato and beginning her teaching career in St. Louis. “I taught a high school weaving class in the late ’70s and taught myself how to do basketweaving so students could work at home. They all were bored to tears, but I fell in love with it,” Giles says. Using a technique called coiling, an ancient type of weaving, Giles makes pieces that showcase her passion for the environment.
Giles uses aged or corroded natural materials, such as metals. “I love working with old surfaces (algae, rust and driftwood) or anything that has changed naturally over time. I’m 72 now, so I have to accept old surfaces,” she says with a chuckle.
